Location: Irving (DFW Temple)

Facility: DFW Hindu Temple in Irving Phone: (972) 445-3111

Address:1605 North Britain Road, Irving, TX 75061-2608

Notes:

Registration processYou will need to register for the religion class along with Marathi language class.The donation for this is $150/- per year ($125 for religion class and $25/- for the Marathi class)Please contact Nitin Kunte for details or directly register at the temple.

Location: Flower Mound

In addition to this, with our growing community needs, if you would like to start a school in your area or have questions around the exams conducted by BMM, you can contact [email protected]

Here are some FAQs about Marathi Exam Conducted by BMM:

History about Marathi Exam conducted by BMM:

When did the program start – was this initiative by someone from one of the MMs

How did BMM get involved, how is it tied to various MMs

Is this affiliated with some university in India – that’s what we had heard

In June 2008, Sunandatai Tumne and Vijayatai Bapat developed and produced the BMM Marathi Shala curriculum and guidelines with contributions from many experienced teachers. The Bharati Vidyapeeth approved the curriculum. BMM and Bharati Vidyapeeth signed the MOU to support the project in April 2009.

BMM established a pilot project with 7 Mandals. Sunanda Tumne spearheaded the project. BMM and BV had first Marathi Bhasha exams in June 2011. At present there are 29 Mandals participating and following the BMM Marathi Shala curriculum. Generally Marathi classes are conducted on Saturday/Sunday with 2.5 hrs of instructional time.

At this stage, Sonatai Bhide from Phoenix is coordinating the efforts on behalf of BMM.

(Source: http://bmmshala.net/). In order to keep the process streamlined, you can contact your local shala coordinators in DFWMM area for more questions.

Frequency and Timeline for Exams:

When is the exam conducted?

What are the timelines for submitting the forms

BMM point of contact will communicate with the local point of contact from Maharashtra Mandal / Shala coordinators about the exam instructions, form, timeline, result template around mid-March.

Typically the exam registration and fee collection will be from Apr 1st to Apr 30th (last day for registration)

Exam timeline for oral-written 1st May to 15th June.

Fees, Curriculum, Conducting Exam:

Thanks to BMM, we have a copy of folder for curriculum, and sample exam papers. We will share it locally. A softcopy of the curriculum has been uploaded on shared drive. (Curriculum Soft Copy (password protected)) Please contact [email protected] to get details. (Note that per guidelines from BMM, this information is to be used by the schools who will get affiliated with the Maharasthra Mandal, and in turn this program from BMM via local Maharashtra Mandal).

What are the fees for the exam – per student? Are there any requirements for local Maharashtra Mandal / Schools

Who sets the question papers, where do we get the question papers from

Who can assess the answer sheets, keep records

Once the exam timelines are finalized, local Marathi schools can gather the names of the students who would appear for the exam, get the forms filled out, collect the fee.

Students appearing for the exam should be affiliated with local Maharashtra Mandal – in other words their families should have membership of the DFWMM.

There is a fee of $20 per student. The exam fee collection for all the students will be mailed in 'one single check' to BMM Treasurer (drawn on "BMM", mailing address will be provided later) by the local Shala coordinator in the first week of May. (Shala coordinator will let BMM Treasurer know the number of students taking the exam e.g. 12 students from DFWMM X $20 so the check for $240 etc)

Question papers are set by the BMM coordinator teachers, and will be mailed before the exam locally.

Exams can be conducted locally by the Shala teachers. There will be written exam and oral exam. Assessment can be performed locally (Schools may get the teachers from other schools).

Exams can be conducted at the same place where your Shala is held. The written exam must be conducted for that level only on one day. The written exam may be conducted on different days suitable to the Shalas, e.g. branch A can conduct all levels exams on say 31st May, branch B on June 7th or whatsoever.

For oral exams you may invite guests/volunteers from the community, time would be approx 20-30 minutes per child. Orals can be taken on separate days if there are lot of students

Grading guidelines are also given in the exam instructions. Oral is 60% and written is 40% (the paper is of 80 marks though). Passing is at 50%. Even though the passing is at 50%, kids must take both the exams for passing.

Awards, Encouragement, Certifications:

How do we recognize students who pass the exam

Do we award students – which should help in encouragement

Is there any certification that we have / are considering

Assessment report will need to be conveyed back to the BMM by the local schools. Results due to Sunandatai by June 30th. BMM will translate the scores into grades, and mail certificates. Local schools are advised to celebrate this to encourage the students.

Bharati Vidyapeeth mails the certificates in Aug to BMM Marathi Shala Coordinator, which then are sent out to different Shalas by Aug. end so that they can present the certificates to kids during their mandal's / schools local program.

At this stage, credits from these exams cannot be used towards credits in schools or colleges in USA. Though, something similar is possible in Canada.